DIY NIGHT VISION CAMERA

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Everyone today knows about night vision devices. In films, they are often used by superheroes to attack the enemy at night. Someone uses them as sights for night hunting. And some just like filming in the dark.
Be that as it may, today's invention proves that shooting in the infrared spectrum can also be done with the GoPro budget action camera. How is this possible? Let's get it right.

Device description

Of course, in our invention there is no electronic infrared converter, as in full-fledged night vision devices - a complex device, inside of which an electric field is created in vacuum, which converts infrared rays into electromagnetic ones. But then he would not be worth a mere penny.
Our device is based on the operation of the lens of a conventional camera, which is able to shoot not only in high resolution, but also in Ultra HD and 4K. The backlight is equipped with a ready-made infrared flashlight that runs on battery power. All elements are mounted on plastic glasses so that the device can be freely used without additional tools - tripods, clothes pegs, clips, etc.

Necessary parts and tools

In order to assemble a night vision device at home, we need:

Inexpensive action camera Go Extreme Pro Cam;
Flashlight with infrared LED;
Lens for virtual reality glasses;
Protective plastic glasses for construction work;
Collar of a PVC pipe with a bell;
Two clips for 25mm PVC pipes;
Half a meter of cord or kapron rope;
A small segment of foamed PVC sheet, thickness 3-5mm;
Glue for plastic or superglue, masking tape, nylon screeds, bolts, nuts.

The necessary tool is quite modest: a screwdriver with a core drill, a paint knife, pliers, wire cutters.

Getting to work

To begin with, we need to prepare an action camera and configure it correctly at the same time making sure that she still sees the infrared rays.

Set the exposure to +2, and turn off the automatic screen off. So we can shoot video in constant mode.

To focus on the object right in front of you will need a special lens for virtual reality glasses. In fact, it will play the role of our viewing lens.

To install it, take a bottle of dark plastic from a cheap power engineer, and cut it off the neck. Since the distance to the lens will have to be selected empirically, it is better to crop it with a margin.

Try on our lens on a bottle trimmer. Now you need to somehow fix it. We cut the bottom of the cap from the same bottle and press the lens with it. Done!

To combine the LCD screen of the camera with the lens, well, and install them on the glasses, we need to make her a case. To do this, take pieces of foamed PVC for prototyping, and cut from them parts of a small box. The most convenient way to crop them is to fit the camera.

The viewing window on the camera screen is made rectangular. It is best to work with this material with a paint knife. We assemble the case of our device on superglue or some other PVC product, and glue the neck of the bottle-lens.

We make small slots on the case so that you can easily pull out the camera when necessary.

It is time to mount our lens with a camera on the case of goggles. The plastic on them is thin and fragile, so you need to drill it with a core drill with extreme caution. The author advises not to drill to the end, but to modify the hole with a paint knife. To avoid cracks, masking tape will also help, which should glue the drilling zone.

Due to the radial tilt of the glasses, an installed lens with a camera is directed with a large deviation to the side. This can be fixed by trimming the PVC sewer pipe at 32mm. You will need a collar with a bell and a rubber seal.

We cut it at the right angle, we clean the hole with zero sandpaper, and glue it into place with superglue overlap. For greater reliability, the author chose to tighten this element with several nylon ties.

The next step is fixing the flashlight. We take two 25mm PVC clips and mount them on the opposite side of the camera onto the bolts.

Assembling this device is quite heavy, so you need a limiter on the arms of the glasses. It is easiest to make from paracord, kapron twine or elastic rubber band.